Brussels, Rugby, and Modern Art

Hello All!

Things are going well in London! Work and school are keeping me busy, but I'm still finding time to have plenty of fun on the weekends.

On Friday I added another stamp to my passport by going on a day trip to Brussels, Belgium. I didn't think it was going to be all that great, but it turned out to be really fun day! We ate Belgium chocolate, Belgium waffles, and sampled Belgium beers. There were about three chocolate shops on every corner. We went to one called Chocopolis and it was delicious! Especially the hot chocolate! The waffles, as you can see, were all covered in whipped cream or ice cream and more chocolate! Another thing Belgium is known for is its beers. Every town in the country has its own brewery and some pubs have a choice between over 300 kinds of beers. There were all kinds of flavors like strawberry and peach, and every flavor is served in a specific kind of glass that is supposed to enhance the taste. I tried a fruity-flavored one that didn't even taste like beer at all. One thing we did that didn't have to do with food was visit the Brussels Art Museum. Tony, our AIU tour guide, walked us around and taught us about the history of art in Northern Europe, which was really interesting. Another thing we saw was an interesting 15th century fountain that is famous to Brussels. The fountain, called "manneken-pis", contains a sculpture of a little naked boy... I'll let you figure out where the water is coming from... haha. The most beautiful part of Brussels, however, is a huge square called the Grand Place. It's surrounded by all of these large, intricately detailed buildings that really were outstanding to see.

On Saturday I was introduced to Rugby. We went to a match in Twickenham and saw the Harlequins play the Scarlets from Wales. It took almost the entire match, but I think I understand how the game works now. It's a lot different from American football. After the game, since the home team won, we went to a bar in the stadium where they had a band playing. Lindsay, one of my roommates, was set on getting a picture with one of the players, which we eventually got after a good deal of begging, haha. It was a lot of fun.

Sunday was a little more low key. I went to Tate Modern, which is the huge modern art museum in London. Some of the exhibits were cool, but I honestly don't always get modern art. It was worth it though to see the photography exhibits. After that I walked around by the river and took pictures of the city for my photography class. Then, I went to the Design Museum where they had some cool exhibits on modern pottery design, graphic design, and fashion.

Another exciting thing to mention is that I just bought a plane ticket to Barcelona for mid-February! I cannot wait to see Spain!